British businesses hit by 38 unique ransomware attacks each day

Less attacks, but more variation, means companies need to be on their toes even more.

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UK businesses are being hit by more and more ransomware attacks every day, with a wide range of threats appearing all the time.

A new report from SonicWall found that roughly 38 new ransomware attacks are being detected each day - meaning that more than 2,500 pieces of unique ransomware have been spotted so far this year.

In its report, the 2018 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, which you can find on this link, it argues that the number of ransomware attacks dropped, but they have become more deadly.

The number of attacks dropped from 645 million to 184 million between 2016 an 2017 and that’s the good news. The bad news is that the number of unique ransomware variants moving around increased 101 per cent compared to the year before.

The report also says that users who are mostly at risk are those running Microsoft Edge and those using Apple TV. Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and memory regions will soon become the ‘next battleground’.

Ransomware is a type of malware which encrypts all data on a machine (including cloud storage) and demands ransom to be paid for the victim to get the encryption key and regain access to their data. It usually attacks large companies, and healthcare organisations are among its biggest victims.

Paying the ransom, which is usually demanded in cryptocurrency, does not guarantee the data will be returned, and in many cases it is not.